Monthly Archives September 2015

Say hello to the drones of the future. They’re gorgeous, sophisticated, and they’ve got high-energy lasers.

The body of the drone will look familiar to those who are familiar with current drones as those lasers will be riding shotgun–quite literally–on General Atomics Aeronautical Systems‘s Avenger. The company, also responsible for the Reaper, is embarking on a privately-funded study to figure out how to incorporate 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto the drone, according to an interview with Defenseone. Depending on the success of the study, the company is hoping to have the laser drones up and running by 2017.

Basically, the funding for this program is enough to figure out if it’s possible, and if so, how to create a laser that’s compatible with the Avenger.

Babies may like to be smiled at, but they don’t put undue effort into smiling at people in order to make that happen. That’s one of the findings of a study conducted by a team of computer scientists, roboticists and developmental psychologists at the University of California, San Diego. To develop their theory, they enlisted the help of a robot you won’t soon forget.

The study drew upon earlier research, in which the face-to-face interactions between 13 mothers and their infants were analyzed. In particular, it was noted when and how often the moms and babies smiled.

Using that data, the UCSD researchers programmed a robot known as Diego-san, which was initially created as a platform for studying the cognitive development of infants...

Syria Deploys Russian Drones For First Time

The Syrian military for the first time on Wednesday deployed drones supplied by Russia for its fight against jihadists, a security source in Damascus said.

“For the first time, the army today used drones received from Moscow in operations against extremists in the north and east of the country,” the source said, without elaborating on the type of drones or locating exactly where they were deployed.

North Dakota passed a law allowing police to use drones that fire non-lethal ammo. But that doesn’t mean the police are going to get those drones anytime soon.

When North Dakota House Bill 1328 legalized the police use of pepper spray, beanbags, and other nonlethal weapons from unmanned aircraft last month, headlines sounded the alarm: Soon, cop drones would surely be hovering over and tasing us.

But there are two things you should know. First, despite warning of “Taser drones,” there are no plans to field such aircraft. And more importantly, building a police drone that fires non-lethal ammo is more challenging than you might think. Here’s why it might be a long time before police departments ever have them—if they ever do.

As it turns out, launching and controlling a swarm of 50 drones is no easy task. Who knew?

Advanced Robotic Systems Engineering Laboratory (ARSENL), a team of students at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, successfully launched a swarm of 50 drones on August 27th. Perhaps more impressive than just the number is the fact that they were controlled by a single operator.

The team had previously launched 30 UAVs and controlled them simultaneously back in July, but 50 is a much more impressive number. How do you control all those drones buzzing about in the sky? Custom algorithms using high-powered WiFi to communicate between the drones...

As with many moments in human achievement, it can be difficult to nail down who actually did it first. While there are several videos claiming to the be the world’s first ever drone tooth pull, as near as we can determine, this is the earliest example, uploaded over three years ago by user TacticalAR15Master. While he claims it’s a tooth pull via helicopter, the vehicle is clearly a quadcopter, and what we commonly accept as a “drone” today:

Yep, it’s another prosumer quadcopter – ProDrone’s Byrd. So, what’s so special about this one? Well, among other things, it combines folding propeller arms with swappable camera gimbals and a 29-minute flight time.

The Byrd is designed to fold down to a rectangular package, for easier transport and storage. Once the propellers and arms are unfolded and the thing is fired up, its 14.2V/7,000-mAh lithium battery can reportedly keep the Byrd in the air for just short of half an hour – by comparison, the DJI Phantom manages about 25 minutes.

Depending on what users want to do with the drone, its 3-axis gimbal can be replaced with one better suited to their choice of camera, or with another type of payload device. The quadcopter can lift up to 4.5 lb (2 kg).

Children of the 1970s may recall Kenner’s Smash-Up Derby set, in which two toy cars flew into pieces when they crashed into each other – the neat thing was, they could then just be snapped back together. Well, Vantage Robotics’ Snap is sort of like the Smash-Up Derby of drones. The 4K camera-packin’ quadcopter’s main body is attached to the folding propeller assembly by magnets, allowing it to come off under impact without incurring any lasting damage.

The Snap’s unique construction also makes it highly portable. Users can just pull off the main body, fold the props together, then stuff the whole thing into a backpack. Additionally, in transit and in flight, prop guards serve to both protect the propellers and to keep them from cutting into hapless bystanders.